How do I encourage my 9 month old to eat more?

[Sushipaws]

How do I encourage my 9 month old to eat more?

When she eats lots, she sleeps so much better and is a happier child.

Anyone have any ideas?

can you identify when she eats more? with dd, if she's tired she doesn't eat.

Your right Aitch, we are on a nasty cycle, if she sleeps well, she eats well. But I can't seem to get her to have a good night so she's nearly always grumpy and eats small portions of things.

On the rare occasion she has a good nights sleep, she's the happiest baby in the world and eats plenty.

I've been giving her 4 meals a day to try and get more in but she still only eats small portions. If I make her meals further apart she still eats the same small amounts.

Our day is a bit like this -
6am bf
8.30am Breakfast Yoghart and a bit of toast.
10.30am bf
12.30pm Lunch (100grams) Pasta or something and a pudding of some sort.
2.30pm Snack of wheat bites or toast
3.30pm bf
5pm Dinner (100 grams) and a pudding
6.30pm Bedtime Porridge
7.15pm bf

9 months is still v. young. i wouldn't stress too much as it is impossible to make them eat and if you trick them into eating more they are generally sick. up the breast feeds if you are anxious.

one thing that used to help dd was getting her outside as much as possible.

dd's sleeping went very wonky at that age, and i posted on here. it was suggested that i might be offering dd food too late in the day, so she was filling her tummy with that rather than milk. so i moved her last 'meal' (we did BLW so i really just mean some veggies and pasta or so) back to 4pm and let her guzzle on milk and her sleeping went back to normal. like the goat says, it's all about the milk for the moment, i think you could drop the porridge.
PS how do you know she's eating 100g of pasta?

does she actually eat all that you have listed there
God I wish Gecko would eat that much

why, though TR? is your baby losing weight?

She has a fabulous bf in the morning, I think I must have super morning milk and then she loves her yoghart. Lunch is ok, she usually ether eats the savory or the fruit pudding, not usually both. She loves an afternoon snack but is fussy with dinner. The bedtime porridge is a new thing, she wolfed it down for the first few days but has ignored it since, maybe taking one spoonful.

Thanks Goat, she is much better when we've been out, so I try and get out for a walk every morning and do something with her in the afternoon.

Aitch, I might just try giving her dinner earlier, she doesn't seem to want the porridge anyway, so I'll drop it for now. I usually cook her meals myself but I sometimes use the Plum brand of baby food and the pots are good for freezing portions in (they are 100 grams per pot).

TR, I guess it does look allot, but she hardly eats any of it.

ach, just give her a sandwich. [BLWer]

Actually I really liked the idea of BLW but I was stupid and let myself be bullied into spoon feeding. I'm also totally neurotic about choking, dd a real puker and spray vomits when anything large hits the back of her throat. I'm going to try it if I have any more.

DD holds the spoon, I just help her aim. Does that count?

She eats loads more than my ds1 who is nearly 14 months, He will only eat a few mouthfuls maybe twice and day 3 times if Im lucky but he weighs nearly 2 stone !!!
Must be my gold top milk

At 9 months your lo is still b/f quite a bit and the need for 3 strict meals a day is not really anything to worry about yet

Mag, thats fab, you must have super power milk

I just want her to eat more as she's still wants to feed allot during the night and wakes up all the time. On the days when she eats well, she sleeps so much better and I get a much happier baby.

Ds1 is still up 2-3 times at night too and I am sure he is hungry so I do understand the frustration.
I have tried Blw but he throws all food on the floor and eats maybe 1 or 2 bites, At least if I spoon feed him some things I can get a bit more into him, I do the same with Porridge to try and fill him up a bit before bed but it doesn't work

well tbh that's kind of the point of BLW, they eat as much as they want, not how much you want, and then guzzle their milk. but i can see how that's not the priority with a non-sleeping baby.

sushi, it totally counts imo.

That looks like a huge number of feeds to me!

Sushi, my 10mo DS eats about the same amount as your LO, sometimes he's just not bothered about food, and he still has 4/5 BFs a day. I have heard it said (probably on here somewhere!) that BF babies often don't really get into solids until 12mo+, I guess they are still getting lots of nutrients from their milk.

I would personally consider dropping the porridge and offer boob then instead -- we split the evening BF before and after his bath (so he feeds about 6.30 and 7.15) as after his bath he is usually too tired to take a full feed without nodding off!

I don;t think shes losing but then I haven't weighed her for weeks and weeks as I was getting funny looks for BLW and still bf

tossers

I just feel the same as the op, if she eats shedloads I get a 3 hour stretch at the beginning of the night

but she just doesn't seem to eat much most days and is up every hour or two throuhg the night

sorry sushi, I thought you meant she actually ate that much rather than thats what you offer

i just think that if you're not getting to sleep properly every single thing about being a mum is harder. dd is going through a phase (i fkn hope it's a phase) of getting up in the night and it's KILLING me and dh. and at least now she's older, it woudl have been hideous when she was wee and screechy. chin up, TR... ,

Sorry TR I could have worded that better

We have similar babies, DD does love an all night drinking session, but hey, who doesn't . I used to dream all the time but now I rarely do as I generally don't get to sleep for more than 90 minutes at a time.

I even tried cc but it didn't work and I can't do it anymore as it feels like having my head in a vice.

I'm going to offer dinner a bit earlier and drop the porridge but will offer a bf instead, then again at bed time.

I'm bored of moaning about no sleep, I guess one day I'll wake up and dd will have slept for the whole night (or even half the night).

It will happen sushipaws, I promise you. Like Aitch says, everything is so much harder when you are sleep deprived. DD (20 months) has only started eating well and sleeping better in the last few months. Since she really found her feet to be honest, on her really active days she sleeps and eats really, really well (13 hours without a murmer last night, I am not boasting, I feel I am owed that for all the awful sleep we have had ) but that has only really since about 18 months. I know with a 9month old that really, really doesn't help that much but just wanted to say it won't be forever.

Just top up with as much milk as she likes and hopefully things might get a bit better for you. Lots of hugs because I know what it is like. Hideous, hideous, hideous.